


Of Revengeful Actions

by yaruna



Series: Of Years Gone By [26]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Elrohir POV, Gen, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2015-11-12
Packaged: 2018-05-01 08:17:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5198747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaruna/pseuds/yaruna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Legolas is out looking for revenge.</p><p>Elrohir POV</p><p>All parts of the series are stand-alone one-shots, though some may have references to previous happenings</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Revengeful Actions

**Author's Note:**

> This part refers quite heavily to part 18 and part 24 of the series, though it should be possible to read this one without having read any of those
> 
> I hope you enjoy :)

My brother and I had only just returned to Imladris, not even having had time to speak with our father, when a Mirkwood Elf had barraged towards us at full gallop. Both he and his horse looked to be exhausted, and he handed us a letter before his eyes rolled back into his head. He would have fallen had Elladan not been so quick in catching him. We brought him to the Houses of Healing and ensured he was going to be fine before we opened the letter. It was vague, as far as letters go, yet the intentions shone clear.

_My lords Elladan and Elrohir, We require Your assistance regarding the Orc infestation in the Mountains.  
_ _Meet Us at the Pass at the next full moon. We will do Our best to hold Legolas back until then._

We were unsettled by it. There was no further explanation, and no sender, and we had no way of questioning the scout, unless we wished to force him to wake up. Even Elves cannot go for days on end without rest. So we only had the way it was written to go on, and it seemed as though Legolas had no knowledge of it being sent.

We were quick in repacking our supplies for the new journey, left a message for Elrond and went back out to get to Legolas. We didn’t know what to expect, but since they had requested our assistance, we could only assume that his intention was to hunt Orcs. It confused us however, for Legolas has never been one to go hunting for trouble. Usually he wouldn’t involve himself too much in matters outside of Mirkwood, and the Orcs in the Mountains were not really a threat against their borders. Even after his time in captivity, he had not seemed more prone towards hunting Orcs compared to previously.

We rode as hard as we could, for Legolas is impatient, as far as Elves go, and we could not trust that anyone would be able to keep him from his goal, whatever it may be, for as long as until the next full moon.

We arrived at the Pass days before the full moon, and I was not surprised to see that we were not alone. There were ten more Elves present, outside of Legolas. Most of them were unknown to me, but one of them I recognized.

‘Gwathon,’ I said in greeting, and as he turned around I noticed the harried look that he had upon him. His eyes were tired, and his clothes were wrinkled after obviously having worn them for days on end.

I do not know Gwathon very well. We have met a few times, and he had lived in Imladris for a while after he had extracted Legolas from captivity. He was extremely loyal towards Legolas, and Legolas has always looked up to him so I was glad that Gwathon was the one here with him.

‘Elladan…’ he said hesitantly to me, and I shook my head to show him he was wrong. ‘I apologize, Elrohir. I am glad to see you arrive early and safely. We are having trouble making him wait,’ he said, looking pointedly to his left where Legolas was standing with his back towards us. His back was straight and tense, and his head was held high as he looked out over the Mountains. It seemed as though he was ready for action at a moment’s notice.

‘What is going on?’ I asked, turning back to look at Gwathon who sighed deeply.

‘Mayhap it is better that you speak with him. He will not listen to us.’

‘We will go, but you are sending us in blind,’ Elladan said under his breath, with a hint of annoyance that I doubted Gwathon could detect. My brother was shooting worried glances towards Legolas who had sat down, but taken out one of his knife that he was sharpening. He was restless, and preparing for battle, but I did not believe that he had even noticed our arrival. What was going on with our friend?

We went up to him, stopping a bit further away than I normally would have, uncertain of how he would react when he finally acknowledged our presence.

‘You will not have any knives left if you sharpen them any more,’ I said teasingly, and held steady as Legolas jumped to his feet and pointed his knives directly at my throat. He looked between Elladan and me suspiciously for a moment before he gave a slight smirk and lowered his knives.

It was not his regular, good-natured smirk that was always full of teasing and mischief. No, this was different. It was a calculating smirk. We have known Legolas since he was an Elfling; he has almost caused our deaths, he has stolen our bows, and been tortured and betrayed. For all of this, I have never before seen him look as evil as he did now.

It took me aback.

This was not Legolas.

‘I see now what we were waiting for,’ he said and sheathed his knives with a swift move. ‘Are you joining the hunt?’

‘Why are you doing this, Legolas?’ Elladan asked with a somewhat unsteady voice, and I knew I had not been the only one to be unsettled by Legolas’ behavior. Legolas turned to him with steel in his gaze.

‘They took someone precious to me.’

That was something that my brother and I could relate to. We have spent centuries hunting Orcs, and as the years has gone by it has become less about the revenge and more about cleansing the world from its abominations. Revenge does not actually solve anything; it never makes the loss any less hurtful.

‘I am sorry,’ I said and Legolas let out a soft, amused snort that made me raise an eyebrow in surprise. What was there to be amused about?

‘He’s out and in the safe care of his Rangers,’ he said, making both Elladan and me tense up. There are only so many Rangers, and I could only think of one that Legolas would go out of his way to get revenge for.

‘Legolas! Who was it?’ Elladan demanded, thinking in the same lines as I.

‘They starved and they beat him,’ Legolas said, not paying any attention to the question. He was looking towards the North with a fire burning in his eyes.

‘How many Orcs?’ I asked; giving up on convincing Legolas not to go. It was unlikely we would be able to dissuade him when it was something so personal.

‘No less than one hundred.’

My mouth fell slightly open before I caught myself, closed it and shook my head. He had said no less. Which implied that he did not know how many more there might be.

‘That is suicide!’ Elladan said, and I could only agree.

‘And you are dragging your kin along,’ I said and saw a flash of anger in Legolas as his eyes tightened and his lips rose in a sneer. While following Legolas was voluntary, I highly doubted that anyone of the rest wished to lose their lives.

‘I have told them to leave me. They will not go.’

‘You still intend to hunt for these Orcs?’ I asked in resignation and looked to Elladan. The sadness in his eyes was likely mirrored by my own. We could not be a part of this, but I was loath to let Legolas and his kin go towards their deaths.

‘I intend to kill them all,’ Legolas said and I held off a shiver at the coldness of his voice.

‘Legolas, it will not help you get over the pain…’ Elladan began when Legolas interrupted him.

‘It was Estel.’

That changed everything.

The rage that I felt surge up inside of me was not entirely unfamiliar. It was the same feeling I had had when our mother had been taken, and when I had heard of what they had done against Legolas. The clenched jaw I saw on my brother told me that his feelings were similar to my own.

‘When do we leave?’ we asked simultaneously and Legolas quirked a satisfied smile.

‘I knew you would see it my way,’ he said and we went to lay out plans with Gwathon and the other Mirkwood Elves.

It was not long before we were marching towards the Orcs’ caves, and Elladan and I had moved up to walk next to Gwathon. Legolas was at the front, scouting for any stray Orcs that we may run into before getting to the caves.

‘You could have told us,’ Elladan said to Gwathon with a hint of accusation. Even more than “could have told us”, he _should_ have told us what had happened to make Legolas this way.

‘I did not wish for your judgment to be clouded by anger,’ he said. It was not hard to understand his reasoning, as we had not agreed to this hunt until after Legolas had told us that Estel had been in the Orcs’ grip. If we had been prepared for it, maybe we would have kept our heads. Or we would simply have left for the hunt earlier. It did not matter anymore. We were going towards an uncertain end; what had brought us there made little difference.

‘I did not know much myself,’ Gwathon continued. ‘When he returned after saving Estel, he merely said that he was going back out for a hunt. I knew he meant that he was going back for the Orcs and gathered my patrol to follow him.’

‘Legolas says that he asked you to leave,’ I said, for I was not entirely certain that he had, with the level of anger that we had seen in him.

‘He did. And I have asked the same of my patrol.’ He looked towards Legolas with a soft gaze that spoke of love and admiration. ‘We have a bit of a vested interest in killing off this particular strain of Orcs.’

‘What are you keeping from us?’ I asked, feeling as though we were missing something.

‘It is the same caves as where Legolas was held,’ Gwathon said between clenched teeth and the surge of rage again made itself known to me. We just kept getting even more reasons to help Legolas be rid of these Orcs.

The Mirkwood Elves fight with a grace that should not be possible to achieve in a battlefield. They are quick on their feet, and evade more than they parry. Legolas more so than most, as he is one of the few that has foregone the heavier sword in favor for knives that allow him to move even faster. They use their quickness and distractions to get the upper hand in a fight. Some humans would surely say the Mirkwood Elves fight dirty, but they are experts at utilizing their surroundings. They will throw dirt in your eyes if you leave them the opening. I had had it happen to me once during sparring against Legolas, and I had been as angry as they come. Once I had calmed down, I was able to see it for the technique it was, and it was effective.

Elladan and I have a rougher style, though by no means as rough as a human’s. We use more brute force, and put more weight behind our blows. We will evade a strike when necessary but we are more prone to standing our ground. We are fast with our swords, and are not averse to using our fists when we need to.

These differences served us well in the caves.

Legolas and another of the Mirkwood Elves had gone in first to clear the first visible part of the corridor, then Elladan and I took up position at the first chamber where we began to slay those inside. Like my brother and I have seen so many times in our past, the Orcs at the far back were killing ones in front of them to get to us, effectively helping us fight them from both ends.

Mirkwood Elves moved in along the edges of the chamber, putting themselves in the midst of the Orcs, killing them from the inside, and making the entire deal very effective. We got through the first five chambers without a hitch and I estimated we were likely to have killed one hundred Orcs already. We were empowered by our success, and I actually believed we would be able to pull off this crazy endeavor.

Legolas and the other Mirkwood Elf, I regretted not having gotten his name, ran into the next corridor again. A soft whistle soon made its way to us, telling us it was clear.

We moved in after them, and already there were four dead Orcs in the corridor. We turned to the chamber from where the Orcs had already started to run towards the commotion, and took our positions as we had in the previous encounters. Then I heard a noise from further down the corridor and I spared a glance towards it.

Legolas had already started to run towards the noise and farther ahead of him there was another band of Orcs that were rushing towards him. Apparently Legolas meant to take them all on by himself.

‘Go!’ Elladan said, and I turned back to look at him for a moment. I am not certain why I did it. Maybe because I wished to see him one last time, maybe because I wished to see that he was truly fine with me leaving him to fight alone. I have never liked leaving my brother during battle, but he was holding the better strategic position, and he had the help of the other Mirkwood Elves. Legolas had none, and we both knew it. So I left Elladan’s side and sprinted towards where Legolas was struggling.

Gwathon ran just a step behind me, and we arrived to Legolas just in time to stop an Orc from landing a killing blow on his back. There were too many Orcs, and even with the three of us, we were struggling to keep them away. To give the rest a chance to clear the chambers before this band would assault them as well. Then the waited call came from behind us.

‘Bring them in!’ It was Elladan, and I felt a wave of relief at knowing that he was still alive.

Legolas, Gwathon and I started to back up, bringing the Orcs with us to get the fight into the more open area of the chamber. Woodelves were lining against the wall of the space, and Elladan was standing outside. Just as I was about to enter inside, Legolas shoved me aside and I stumbled away from them. Elladan reached out to help me recover my balance and I could only watch as Legolas and Gwathon trapped themselves on the inside, with the Orcs.

The Orcs rushed into the chamber, and Elladan and I were killing off as many as we could from the side. When all of them were trapped inside, we could take up our positions at the opening again. We were lucky, this time. Even though this band of Orcs was the largest yet, it did not seem as though any more were coming out of the adjoining corridors and chambers. Hopefully this was the last of them.

We were efficient, and the Orcs were being killed off quickly from all sides. I swung my sword again to slay yet another.

‘Elrohir! That one is mine!’ Legolas called out in a loud, rushed voice and I instinctively turned my blade so that I hit the head of the Orc with the flat side of my sword instead of slicing its head off. It sank to the ground, and I was not entirely certain that I had not killed it, but then another Orc demanded my attention and I forgot about the one Legolas wanted alive.

It was at least another hour before all Orcs lay dead. I looked towards the Orc that Legolas had stopped me from killing and frowned as I saw it move. Still, I thought, all Orcs lay dead. This one simply did not know it yet.

The Orc pushed itself up into a sitting position and I looked out over the chamber to find Legolas. During the last part of the fight, I had lost all perception of anyone else except for my brother, so I did not know if we had lost anyone. The realization made me lose my breath for a moment, and Elladan looked at me in concern. I gave him a small smile and a nod as I took the opportunity to scan him over for injuries. He had a scratch on his cheek and blood was running down from his leg, but he looked relatively fine.

Once I had established I would still get to keep my brother, I swept the rest of the chamber with my eyes. I counted the Elves still standing and was relieved to end up with the same number as we had entered the caves with. Everyone was a bit more bloody, a bit worse for wear, but everyone was still standing. Some stood through the help of others, but everyone was alive.

I wanted to share the moment of miracle with Elladan, so I turned my head back to look at him and felt my vision start to get fuzzy. Elladan quickly moved in on my side and grabbed my elbow to help steady me, indicating that I had swayed a bit more than I had thought. Blood was running down the side of my face and it amazed me; I could not even remember being hit. Now that I knew I had been, I could feel my legs trembling and I leaned into my brother’s steadying hold.

When it felt as though the ground was not trying to make me fall any longer, I looked up again. Legolas was walking towards us with long strides, stepping on top of the bodies of the Orcs. His eyes were fixed on the living dead Orc and he had a sneer on his face. He acted as though he was unhurt, but he had blood caked in his hair. The red blood stood out as a contrast to his blonde hair and I was surprised he was even able to walk, much less as steadily as he was. His left hand was hanging, unusable, at his side, and I knew it was broken. The healer in me wished to go to him and set his bones, but something in his eyes held me back. The tightening of Elladan’s hand on my elbow told me that he also was keeping himself from going to our friend. But I believe his concern for me, and his need to stay with me to keep me upright, were what kept him from going. He is much more of a healer than I am, so I knew that he was struggling with himself.

Legolas stopped by the Orc, which was looking around the chambers at the other dead Orcs. Legolas whipped out one of his knives from its sheath and pushed it against the throat of the being in front of him. Only then did the Orc look at its executioner.

‘Mayhap I should remove your skin?’ Legolas said, his voice dripping with ire, and I knew this Orc would deserve anything that Legolas wished to dish out to it.

The Orc laughed cruelly. It still had not figured out that it was dead, and anything it did would only prolong its misery. Legolas narrowed his eyes.

‘I remember you,’ the Orc said with its rough voice. ‘You screamed so prettily.’

I took half a step forwards before Elladan’s hand on my elbow stopped me, and pulled me back. I wanted to kill this Orc myself! I did not want to leave Legolas open for this kind of wretchedness. We had gotten him back once; I was scared to think he might fall back into the darkness.

Legolas slowly dragged his knife across the throat of the Orc. It did not flinch away, and blood started to trickle out. Such a small scratch would not kill it, and I turned my head, not wishing to see the path that Legolas was about to go down on.

‘Legolas…’ Elladan said slowly, surely wanting to protect him from this just as much as I did.

As silence stretched, I glanced up again. Legolas was looking at us with a pain in his eyes that made me choke before he turned back to the Orc. He had never told us what he had been through during his captivity, and I often wondered, even though I was not certain that I wished to know.

‘I should make you suffer,’ he said coldly. ‘I should divest you of your skin slowly, as you did mine. I should pull out your nails one by one until you are but a quivering mess.’

If an Orc had been able to pale, I was convinced that this one would.

‘I should let you waste away slowly and alone,’ Legolas continued and I was having a hard time listening to it. He must have been so alone, so frightened. Yet now, as he spoke of dealing out such an atrocious punishment to someone else, his voice was entirely steady. I was scared for him.

He narrowed his eyes. ‘I am no Orc, however,’ he said, drew his knife back, and plunged it down into the heart of the Orc.

The silence that spread when the Orc hit the ground was deafening. All of us were looking at Legolas who had withdrawn his knife and was now standing over the Orc with his head bent and his hair falling over his face, making it impossible for us to see his expression. The only thing that permeated the silence was the blood that was sliding from Legolas’ knife and dripping onto the ground. It was unnaturally loud.

‘Leave me,’ Legolas said after some time. His voice was shaking and I wanted to step forward and offer him some solace. But I did not know how to help, so I walked out with the rest, subdued.

Elladan and I stopped a bit farther away from the chamber, down the corridor, and looked at each other in understanding. We would give our friend his privacy, but we would not leave him to deal on his own again. We would stay close.

‘You seem vexed yet, my friend?’ I heard Gwathon’s voice travel through the corridor and my brother and I looked at each other with a raised eyebrow. We had thought everyone had left.

‘I had wished for the blood of one more, in particular,’ Legolas said with a heavy sigh.

‘It has been dead for a long while.’

‘You killed Naga?’ I recognized the name from the screams that had come from Legolas as he had been plagued by nightmares after his ordeal.

‘The moment I saw that one push the plates in you, I knew I had to kill it,’ Gwathon said.

‘You saw?’ Legolas asked, and I thought he almost sounded betrayed.

‘I could not get to you then,’ Gwathon said, sounding distressed.

‘I know, friend. I am sorry for suggesting otherwise,’ Legolas said and there was a moment of silence before he continued. ‘Thank you.’

Elladan and I stepped a bit farther away then, looking at each other with a somewhat shameful smile. We are not above eavesdropping, but we do try to avoid it when it is this personal. We stopped when we were out of earshot, only guarding them from any Elves that may stray back down into the caves. They would not, of course, they respected their prince far too much for that.

After a while, Gwathon left the chamber and gave us a sad smile as he passed us by. Elladan and I stayed where we were, not wishing to leave Legolas alone in such a place.

It was long before he exited, I had been starting to consider whether or not he had passed out in there and had been about to go search for him. When he came up to us, something in him had changed and he looked more like himself than when we had first met in the Pass hours ago.

‘Suicide, you said?’ Legolas asked as he walked by, letting a happy grin grow on his face. The coldness and anger that I had seen earlier were completely whisked away, so I laughed for him. I laughed in relief for the return of our friend.

‘Even we are wrong sometimes,’ I said, and added _thankfully_ in my head.

‘Let us close this cave up,’ Legolas said with passion, and walked towards the exit ahead of us.

Elladan and I shared a look of relief, and Elladan got a sudden smirk on his face, as though he just thought of something. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again with a smile and a small shake of his head.

‘Another case of Legolacide to the tally,’ I said, guessing that this had been what Elladan had been thinking of. He snickered softly.

‘Let us go before Legolas decides to cave the place in with us still in it,’ he said, only partly in jest and I looked back towards the dead Orcs one last time before we went out to join the rest.

Though we have learnt that revenge solves nothing in the long run, I could not help but think that in some cases it was justified.

Sometimes, they had it coming.

 


End file.
